I dreamt of the same forest that I dreamt before, only this time it was dark. Beams of silver light pierced through the darkness and lit up the same sparkly rock as before. I looked around to see if I could find Alea, but she was nowhere to be found. This time, the only thing that accompanied me in the dark expanse was a few gusts of wind and the occasional howl in the distance, reminding me that I am not alone.
I took a seat on the sparkly rock and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and stretched out my whole body, pulling apart the very vertebrae in my spine until it felt right. When I opened my eyes, my sense of balance evaporated and I began to fall backwards. I panicked and tried to grab onto something, but the rock I was sitting on was no longer there and I began to fall into a pit of darkness, my hair whipping around my face and into my eyes. I was falling for at least a minute before I came to a slow stop and began spinning around. To my surprise, I sat looking down at Alea and me sitting in the back of the cart.
I felt a tug in my core, and I slowly began to descend toward the cart. I'm not sure why, but I felt this intense urge to keep away from my body and stay in this dream state for as long as possible, but it was a wasted effort. It was like trying to stop yourself as you slid down a hill- you can struggle all you want, but you'll still get pulled to the ground. After a few seconds of struggling, I was slammed into my body, but strangely enough, when I opened my eyes, I was sitting in the same position as I was in the dream.
I stretched my arms into the air. "Weird," I thought to myself.
We were parked away in the trees, off and away of the dirt road we'd been travelling on. The horse pulling the carriage, a chestnut brown horse with a patch of white hair just above the hooves. One thing I noticed about the horse was that its mane was cut very very short and was made up of a bunch of ponytails sticking straight up. The horse was curled up on the ground and was snoring very quietly, so quietly that I actually thought the snoring was a swarm of bugs at first.
Along with the sound of the horse snoring, I could also hear the trickle of a nearby stream. A skill that all water wielders have but don't really talk about is our ability to sense nearby water, like an internal water compass. I felt my wielder senses tingling and I could feel that the stream was not far away, just past a few trees.
I stuck my hand out in the general direction of the water and outstretched my magic like an extendable arm. I reached through the trees and weaved around the branches and hanging moss until I was touching the ice-cold water. Even though I was many meters away, I could still feel the current and temperature of the water through my magic.
I extracted a large orb of water and guided it back through the trees until it was right in front of me. I froze the bottom half into a small bowl and let the remaining water drop into the bowl. I moved the bowl over to just in front of the horse's face so that he could have something to drink when it woke up.
I felt Alea twitch next to me and she yawned loudly but never opened her eyes. I smiled and leaned my head up against hers, tilting my face to the road ahead of us and toward the sun, gracefully rising above the horizon. I watched as the glowing ball of fire rose slowly, casting beams of orange light and rays of relaxing warmth. I could feel a tinge of heat flowing into the stream, warming the water slightly.
"Sunrises are something I will never get sick of," Alea says quietly in my ear. "No matter what my mood is, I will always want to watch the sun"
"Good morning sleepyhead," I say. Her hair was kind of a mess, but she didn't seem to mind so I didn't either. "You look like you slept well"
"You're right, I did. I thought it would be a long night, but I fell asleep pretty quickly. You have a very comfortable shoulder you know"
My whole face went hot and my heart began to beat. I turned to face the sun, trying to cover up the fact that I just blushed. Once I had calmed down, I looked back around the carriage and noticed that everyone else was still asleep, even Toothless.
"I'm going back to sleep until everyone else wakes up," I say to Alea and she nods.
I closed my eyes and embraced the darkness once again, the only sounds circulating my head being that of the subtle snores of the passengers and the soft crunch of the carriage wheels on the dirt road. Not too long later, flashes of blue began to swirl before my eyes and I followed their every movement. I began to hear voices in my head and I thought that I was slipping away into a dream, but I realized that the voices were actually coming from people in the cart, and not from my head.
I opened my eyes and commotion was on every side of me. The band of people following and travelling with Toothless were all jumping around and singing. Some were shouting nonsense words while the others beat their chest like drums and whistled no particular tune. I looked over to Alea, expecting to see a scowl or some frightened look or something, but she instead had a huge smile plastered on her face. She was tapping her foot and bouncing her head along to the totally random beat.
"Good Mornin' to ye" Toothless shouted to me, a big toothless smile on his face. "You sure slept like a rock, didn't ya?"
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and yawned. "It would surely look like that. How long have you guys been awake?"
"Only about an hour," He replied.
He went back to singing and beating his chest loudly. I reached into my bag and pulled out a small meal for Alea and I and we began eating. After a few moments, I noticed that the singing and other noises the other travellers were making had ceased. I looked up from my breakfast to a dozen pairs of eyes staring at my food like animals, all of them drooling longingly.
I looked over at Alea and she had the same panicked look on her face. "What do we do?' She mouthed to me.
I shrugged my shoulders and continued eating. I packed this food for Alea and I, not them. After I had finished, the carriage came to an abrupt stop. I looked up and around and noticed that we reached a fork in the road and signpost. On the post were two pointed planks of wood with the words "Stormlight" and "Prefilia" carved into the surface.
"This is where we part," Toothless said. "It was a pleasure, my friends"
"Thank you Toothless," Alea said. "How can we repay you?"
"I normally do this for free, but we don't have enough money for food. Would you be able to spot us some change to feed us?"
"Of course we can," Alea said. She turned to me and stuck her hand out. I looked at her blankly before reaching into my bag and withdrew a pouch of gold coins. "Here you are. I hope we can meet again"
I climbed out of the back of the carriage, carefully stepping down and onto the ground. I did a few stretches and made sure I was all good to keep walking. Alea began to climb out but missed the last step altogether and her knees buckled and she literally collapsed. She landed on her stomach and groaned loudly. Everyone on the cart bent over to get a look at Alea, even the strange cloaked guy who I'd forgotten about. Alea pushed herself off the ground and brushed herself off.
After Alea got back up, everyone snapped out of their shock and Toothless seemingly remembered what he was going to say. "Likewise my friends. Good luck with your travels" He said and he shook the reins. The horse began to walk down the path. "Also! Thanks for giving Mila water, she really needed it!"
I didn't acknowledge him, totally stunned at how he knew it was me who did that. He seemed to pick up on my hesitation. "Don't be coy, none of my friends or I are water wielders and I can see your friend is Chuvith. I may not be very smart, but I'm sure not blind". He tapped the side of his forehead and continued.
I blushed and let myself smile. "Thank you Toothless. I hope our paths cross again"
"I have a feeling your desire will become reality, my friends". His cart continued down the road, a small cloud of dirt following him as he travelled.
I turned to Alea who had a slightly anxious look written all over her face. I slung my arm around her shoulder and brought her into a half-hug, her head resting on my chest. Alea never grew as much as the rest of her people and it was something she was always self-conscious about. I stood at a respectable six feet tall, a bit above average for my race and age, but nothing out of the ordinary. Alea on the other hand stood just level with my shoulders, several inches below the average for her race.
I pat the top of her head. "We got this. Toothless got us within a one-day's walk of Stormlight. We're in the home stretch now" I dug into my bag and pulled out a map of Eshos. I traced our route with my finger until I reached our current position, a crossroad where the main path splits off. "See. Look how far we've come, and look how far we have left"
"I miss home. I miss my bed and having a hot meal on the table in front of me. I miss my parents most of all"
"I'm sorry for taking you from them". I wanted to say more, but I was struggling to formulate a response. I truly had no idea what it felt like to miss your parents.
"No, I'm whining for no reason. We're doing this for a good cause. I will suck it up"
I nod to her and hug her tightly once more. I tuck the map back into my backpack and motion us forward. She reluctantly peels herself off of me and begins to walk forward. I looked behind me and could just barely make out the bumbling cart of Toothless and his gang.
We begin to walk the path toward our next destination and I glance up at the sky. The sun was close to the middle, but a little off to the side.
"Just after midday," I thought to myself. I knew how close we were to Stormlight, but I found myself agreeing with Alea. I miss my warm bed and hot food, but I held out hope that this journey would pay off in the end.
Alea and I just walked for what felt like hours. We didn't even talk as we strode which made the time pass by even slower. I found myself looking at the scenery as we walked, the trees, the flowers, the shrubs and other plants, and the different animals that I could see.
The trees down here were kind of different than the ones in and around Velglow. The trees at home were very tall and covered in thin green leaves that fell off as the air and weather transitioned into the winter months. The trees in the south were nowhere near as tall and only had leaves on the top of the trunk. This made the forests look a lot darker and more foreboding, and the leaves on the trees were much thicker looking as well as a much darker shade of green.
The flowers weren't much different looking except for one thing; they were absolutely massive. They had huge stalks that they rested on, and the petals were the size of my head and very vibrantly coloured. I stared at one particular flower with a four-pointed star-shaped head and petals that were dark pink on the border and got a softer pink the closer to the center that you looked, with the very center being a pearly white colour.
I walked toward the flower and found it grew in a patch with a few others of the same kind of flower. I rummaged around until I found a smaller version. I quickly severed the flower from its stem and brought it back over to Alea.
"I saw this flower and thought you'd like it," I said to her. I hand the flower to her and she takes it gently into her hand.
"Oh, Sorian. It's beautiful"
"Would you like me to put it in your hair?"
She smirked. "Yes but…" She said. I looked at her weirdly. "I would like to put it in my hair, but I am very allergic to flowers"
I stared at her. "Since when?!" I exclaimed. I've known Alea almost all my life, yet I didn't know she was allergic to anything. I said as much to her. "I literally had no idea you were allergic to anything at all"
"Yup. I'm allergic to flowers, dogs, cats, and weirdly enough, snails" She rubbed the back of her head and laughed.
I stared blankly at her. "Snails?" She nodded. "You're kidding, right? You're not actually allergic to snails are you?"
"I wish I were kidding, but no. I will get severe allergic reactions if a snail touches me. My skin will break out into hives and get all itchy and my face gets red and blotchy. My throat also closes up a bit, but it's never been enough to cause any serious harm"
"Well then, I guess I will throw this away then," I said.
"No, wait. Why don't you wear the flower in your hair?" She said, pulling a bobby pin out of her hair. She snatched the flower from my hand and pierced the little nub on the back of the flower and pinned it into my hair.
I felt a little stupid wearing a flower in my hair, but the smile that she had on her face made it worth it. She used a few little gusts of wind to brush my hair out and style it around the flower.
"You look just gorgeous Sori"
"Thank you I guess"
We continued walking, this time chatting about whatever. We talked about her allergies, my lack of allergies, dogs and other animals.
"Yeah, so since my family originates from Equinox, we have a deep reverence for animals of all kinds and avoid harming them if possible, though us city elves are less strict about it"
"Wait so you're saying that the Chuvith of Equinox and the Chuvith of Solstice are different?" I ask. "Are they not both Chuvith?"
"Yes and no," She says. "You're right. They are both Chuvith biologically, but they differ in their philosophy. The Chuvith of Equinox, my people, believe in the sanctity of animals. The natives refuse to use, consume or allow the use of animal products while in their borders, but as I said, the city elves are not as strict with it. We don't believe in killing animals unjustly, but we know that there is little we can do once they're already dead, so then we will just use and eat the animal"
"You eat animals? I could've sworn you said you don't eat meat"
"Nope, you're right. I eat animal products like milk and cheese and stuff, but I don't ever eat meat. I like to say it's because I'm honouring my culture, but to be honest, I just don't like it"
"Fair enough. I happen to love meat, but I can see why someone wouldn't like it."
"Especially the gristly meats" We both say in unison.
"I may love meat, but I draw the line when the meat starts crunching in my mouth," I say and she laughs.
"I just don't like meat in my mouth," She said.
I strained my face, trying incredibly hard not to show a reaction. She seemed to take notice of my reaction but didn't realize why I was trying not to laugh until a moment later. I saw her eyes widen and she cocked her fist back. I raised my hands to my face to protect myself and with the help of her wind-wielding, punched me right on the top of the shoulder.
I slid a few feet to the side and I felt my arm go limp. She hit me right on a spot that made it very painful for me to lift my arm and I was forced to walk for a while with my arm just dangling at my side. Alea seemed to think this was fair punishment and walked with a chip on her shoulder for the rest of the voyage. After a while, I looked out to my left and could see that the threes were thinning before opening out onto a cliffside with a beautiful view of the ocean.
I looked out at the ocean and noticed that the sky was turning a deep orange as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky. Alea and I only intended to stay for a minute and look at the view, but even from several feet away, I could hear how loud Alea's stomach was growling. No, growling wasn't the right word. I think roaring or voracious would be more fitting for the sound.
"Would you like to eat now?" I ask her and she smiles.
"Yes," She said, twirling her hair in her fingers.
I laugh and take a seat on the grass. I pat the ground next to me and Alea eagerly sits down, a small poof of dirt coming off her.
"I'm sorry, I thought I had gotten all of it off," She said, but I waved her off.
I reached into my bag and pulled out two more sandwiches. Alea plucked it out of my hand and tore into it. I calmly unwrapped my sandwich and bit into it and it was delicious. It was crispy sourdough bread with mustard, thick amounts of corned beef and some crunchy pickled cabbage. I made sure to give Alea a veggie medley sandwich due to her beliefs.
We had both finished our sandwiches and were sitting in the grass. The sun had almost completely dipped below the horizon and the sky was beginning to darken.
"Let's try to walk a little more. At least until the sky goes fully dark. If we do, we should arrive around midday tomorrow" I say and Alea yawns.
She nods sleepily and gets to her feet. I get up and make sure that I had everything before we kept walking. Not too long after that, the sky was mostly dark and Alea and I began to look for a nice spot to set up camp for the night.
It took us twenty minutes to find a big enough clearing for us to sleep in. We unloaded our things and Alea set up our sleeping bags. I gathered a small number of dry logs for a small fire and I used dead leaves as kindling. I rummaged around in my bag until I found the lighter I packed and I ignited the wood. Little by little, light began to stretch out in a wide circle around our little camp. I tried to feel if there was any water around me, but I felt nothing, so Alea and I used the few days old waters we packed.
I slid myself into my sleeping bag and shimmied around trying to find a comfortable position in the tight bag. I closed my eyes and embraced the darkness and hoped I would fall asleep quickly. I lay there as the sounds around me began to distort and sound far away and I noticed that my heart began to beat unusually fast. I tried to focus on my breathing to calm down my heart, but that was when I realized that it was the ground shaking, not me.
I sat bolt upwards and looked around. I could feel which direction it was coming from and from the intensity of the footsteps, whatever was coming at us was no small creature.
Alea seemed to notice it as well as she sat up quickly too. She looked around and then in the direction that I was looking in. I scrambled to get out of my sleeping bag and I began to panic when I remembered there wasn't a substantial amount of water around me. I reluctantly withdrew the water from my canteen and held it in a ball in front of me, trying to think of what to do.
I heard a rustling sound behind me and from a shrub emerged a small orange creature. It was the size of a small dog, but it already had strong muscular legs. It was orange in colour with a sharp-pointed face and large body.
"Aw, it's a baby Beaox," Alea said and she crouched down.
"A what?"
"A Beaox" She repeated, patting the ground trying to entice the creature to come to her. When she saw that I was still confused, she clarified. "A fox bear. Bear plus fox… Beaox"
The name made sense, but I didn't even know such a creature existed.
The baby slowly made its way over to Alea before crouching down into a jumping position. I braced myself for something to happen, but all the happened was the baby jumped high into the air and Alea's chest. It began to lick her face and snuggled up against her.
"If the baby is here," I say, "Then is that mom?" I motioned out to the approaching creature.
"Yes that would make sense," Alea said calmly.
"How big do Beaox's get when they're full size?"
"About the size of a regular bear, why?" She had moved on from the baby's head and was now giving him belly rubs.
"Oh you know BECAUSE THE MOMMA IS CHARGING RIGHT AT US," I say, my voice understandably raising.
"I see what you mean, but you don't have any need to be worried"
I stared at her with a blank expression, but in my mind, I was totally and utterly in shock. There is a literal bear thing charging at us, and she thinks now is a good time to chill out and pet some cute baby animal.
There was a loud crunch and the sound of a tree snapping in half. I slowly turn around and come face to face with a large creature, orange in colour with a long black stripe down both of its sides. It was as tall as a bear, but it was thin and agile like a fox, with the same pointed snout and pointed ears. She bared her many long, sharp teeth at me and made a snarling sound that sounded more like a screech, but it was no less terrifying.
I split the ball of water in my grip into two smaller ones and turned those balls of water into small spikes of ice. I don't know what I was planning to do against this beast, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Sorian, but the ice weapons away," She said, giving the baby Beaox a nice final belly rub before standing up and walking toward me. "Have you not been paying attention to anything I've been saying or doing?"
She strode past me without a care in the world, and she walked right up to the Momma Beaox. She reached out her hand and placed it gently on top of the great beast's head. Her hand seems to sink deep into the fluff and I only just now realized it was a giant furball with teeth.
"Equinox Chuvith has a good relationship with all animals. As long as we don't give them a reason to attack, they will be perfectly friendly" She reminded me. I thought back on it and realized that it wasn't about Alea having a weird affinity for animals, it's literally in her blood that animals like her.
Alea began to pet and scratch the beast until Momma gave in and rolled over with a loud thump. Alea needed her whole body and both hands to give the momma good belly rubs, and she began to beckon me over to help.
"I will pass thank you," I say, taking an apprehensive step back.
"You have to pet her. I can't guarantee she won't bite your head off if you don't, so just grow a pair and give the cutie a belly rub"
I gave her some cut eye before trudging over and squatting next to the Momma. Alea grabbed my hand and placed it on the belly of the beast. Momma looked up and right at me and I froze.
"Stay calm, she can probably detect your fear"
"That's reassuring" I grumble.
I began to move my hand back and forth, scratching and petting Momma's stomach. For the first minute or so, she maintained her icy look on my face, but then she melted and her head fell backwards with her tongue dangling out of her mouth. I smiled and began to scratch faster and under her arms, down the side of her back and behind her ears. Momma's leg began to kick at nothing and it told me she was very much enjoying the treatment.
After a few minutes, my arms began to ache and almost like she read my mind, Alea took over and I strode back over to my sleeping bag. I felt significantly more relieved knowing that the beast wouldn't eat me in my sleep. A few moments later, I heard Alea trod over and lay down next to me, tucking herself into her sleeping bag. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to bed, but more footsteps woke me up. I opened my eyes just in time to see Momma lay down next to me and her baby curled up in the gap between us.
I began to hear soft snores coming from Alea and the two beasts beside me and I finally felt at ease. I closed my eyes and the sweet embrace of sleep wrapped around me like a warm blanket. Before I knew what had happened, the sound of birds chirping and leaves blowing woke me gently from my slumber. I sat up and looked around, but the Beaox and her pup were nowhere to be found.
I yawned and itched the top of my head. "I don't remember falling asleep," I think to myself.
Alea turned over in her sleeping bag. I wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but Alea never sleeps past eight in the morning, so it must've been early. I slid out of the sleeping bag and carefully rolled it back up. I finished packing up all our things just as Alea woke up. She looked very tired still and her hair was more like a tumbleweed. She looked at me and yawned, itching her entire body for a few minutes.
"C'mon sleepy head, we have to get going" I call to her.
"Yeargh". She groans and she lays back down.
"If you get up, I will give you part of my breakfa-"
She practically teleported. Her sleeping bag was wrapped and ready to go in the literal blink of an eye and she was waiting in front of me like a puppy. "Give me the sandwich now"
"Geeze alright alright," I say. I reach into my bag and pull out two sandwiches. Alea took hers but kept eyeing mine and I rolled my eyes. I unwrapped it and offered her the first bite, which she took gladly. She took hers apart at lightning speed and devoured it.
"You know, if you slowed down your eating a bit, you might enjoy your sandwich a bit more," I say to her.
"I already enjoy it plenty as is"
I nod and smile. "Fair enough". I finish my sandwich and put the garbage in my pocket. "Shall we?".
"Let's get this over with. I just want to get to Stormlight and get into an actual bed"
We spent the rest of the day walking along the dirt path until the sound of crashing waves got louder and we began to hear the bustle of people. I looked up to the sun and noticed it was in the center of the sky, just like it should be. The path began to steepen slightly and I took that to mean that we were nearing our destination.
Alea and I rounded a corner and were greeted by the familiarity of urban living. People walked from stall to stall purchasing various seafood; fish, crustaceans, clams and scallops.
"I'm glad to be here, but I gotta admit, it smells like shit," Alea said covering her face.
I stifled a laugh. I knew that Stormlight was a fishing settlement, but it just didn't dawn on me that it would smell this bad, but I wouldn't let it dampen my mood. We had finally made it to Stormlight after two long days of travelling and we were this much closer to finding the second piece and finding the Order.
Life was good.